Ummm Does anyone else clean like this... | ADHD Information

[QUOTE=Dave2u4now]

Lets say I start in the Living room, I find a plate and a fork my son might have left behind, The room is a mess. I pick it up with anything else that retains to dishes in put it in the kitchen, Then I take all the dishes in the sink that were their when I came in with the plate and the fork, load them in the dishwasher and get it turned on.

I notice the counter has crumbs on it, so I get a sponge and clean it, when I'm done I notice some grease on the stove top, so I clean that too. I also notice the floor needs sweeping and grab a broom, then I think, oh yea the Living rooom. I return to the living room, and lets say I find a sock and a sweatshirt over the armchair. I take this to the laundry room, and put a load in the washer and take a load out of the Dryer and start folding. After a bit, I force myself back into the living room.

It a constant battle to get myself to focus cleaning on one thing, after hours of working like this I stop, and feel like I have accomplished nothing, get discouraged and stop cleaning all together for the rest of the day. THe living room is better but stil messy, the kitchen is better but still messy, the Laundry is less, but stil formatable.

Its like I run out of juice, changing tasks takes all the mental energy out of me.

And its not just with Cleaning, When I go food shopping I bring up the bags and empty the contents on the table top. Then I grab foods that go in the same place and put them away. Like I will grab everything that goes into the refridgerator in one swoop, come back and get everything in the lower cabnet and so on.

my wife thinks im nuts, she asks me why don't i just carry over the bags and sort them in the kitchen. I explain its too distracting having items that go into ten differnt places all in the same bag, that 10 differnt directions my thoughts need to go to, which is maddening...

maybe I am crasy LOL... HMMM

[/QUOTE]

HMMM>>>>did I write this?????? oh, no, I couldn't have, because I don't have a "wife", I have a "husband".........But I almost got confused there....for a moment I thought I wrote this!!!

sonya_h38429.8456134259

Actually I am on meds, I take Wellbutrin for ADD and Depression, it helps allot I think, I have never tried anything else though for it.

Dave - you write exactly my experience! This is why ADHD homes are soooo cluttered, eternally. I love it when I am "able" to do it this way. It's so freeing for me. But, I can only do it when I'm alone with the whole day to myself so that I can be this way, but by the end of the day have accomplished enough to feel reward and not more guilt. Even then, I try to start out with only one thing I REALLY have to accomplish. Then, the rest of it is more like recreational "nesting" or "playing house" with the side benefit of doing some things that've been guilting me every time I see they need doing!

BUT, as I am the sole parent of two ADHD kids, and I cannot afford the above luxury, I found that medicated, I'm more able to be like Michele. I must make a list and negotiate with myself about which top 3 priorities are realistic in any given day of housework. Then, everytime I do a task, I MUST redirect myself back to my list. I also have to kind of pre-plan my day, organizing logical tasks together. I segregate errands, for example, for the time of day my energy level and level of distractibility are appropriate to leave the house. I try to do the least favorite household tasks first, after my obligatory cup of coffee. (Coffee starts to work much faster than any ADHD med I've tried! It clears the fog so I can think rationally.) I find uplifting music helpful for motivating my resistant body. TV IS A BIG NO-NO - if it's on "in the background" I am too interested in things that have nothing to do with my life.

I'm cleaning. So, I start out doing the laundry, realize the dishwasher has been full for a week and there are dishes in the sink. I start washing the dishes, then remember something about a refund from Verizon due to them mistakenly charging me during my stay to Iraq. Given that I've been remembering this repeatedly for a month, I decided it's too late by now and gave up. Ces't la vie. Then I remembered I was supposed to be doing the dishes, but noticed the windows were dirty because of the sunset lighting them at an angle. Then I saw the front of the oven was dirty. I started cleaning it too but it made the top look dusty. Between all these activitiesI finished the dishes that were IN the sink, but now the sink's full of stove parts. Then I discovered Sarah had bought extra windex; there were 3 bottles so I consolidated them to 2, causing me to notice I hadn't yet taken the recycle bin back in, so I went outside... that reminded me the lawn needed to be cut, but my brother had broken my mower months ago, so I started looking for the business card from the guy that has been mowing it and called him. While on the phone I paced like I always do, and in the process realized I still needed to mail that package.
It goes on and on. Thankfully I've learned to use the distractions... it sounds like you have too, although you have more of a job to do because you're taking care of a full family and not just yourself. That, I'll bet, is a lot of what's making you tired. Its just sheer volume of work. Pat yourself on the back for making a dent in all the chaos, and remind yourself that even if it feels like you got nothing done you *have* made some headway. Get up the next day and work on it some more, and see if you can get anyone to pitch in.
I need to get my spring cleaning done, so I'm paying the neighboor girl who's hyper-organized to come over and help me. Not only will having company make it less boring, but she's likely to notice things that I would miss and force me to focus. I find that at work when people ask me what they should do, it makes me focus because I have to tell them some sort of game plan for the day. Same thing, I think, with anyone who's helping you out and needs guidance. That's just me though, I'm not sure it would work for most ADDers who'd just get stressed by the interruption.
I should mention goal setting. You could say, "once I get this room as clean as I want it, I'm going out for ice cream!" In order to prevent yourself from wandering you could bring in everything with you that you needed: a laundry basket, a dish basin, a garbage can, and all your cleaning supplies. Maybe a box or two for items that belong in other rooms or to other people. Be sure to label the boxes so you don't forget which one is which- that's always a big problem with me!

Good luck. Wish me the same today. I don't feel like cleaning! LOL.

Kelly

Oh yeah, sounds all too familiar!

I have to actually repeat a mantra as I'm doing something to stay on task. "I'm putting the groceries away, I'm putting the groceries away, I'm putting the groceries away..." It helps till I forget to keep saying the mantra! Usually gets me through putting the perishables away, though.

[QUOTE=DesertHanyou]I'm cleaning. So, I start out doing the laundry, realize the dishwasher has been full for a week and there are dishes in the sink. I start washing the dishes, then remember something about a refund from Verizon due to them mistakenly charging me during my stay to Iraq. Given that I've been remembering this repeatedly for a month, I decided it's too late by now and gave up. Ces't la vie. Then I remembered I was supposed to be doing the dishes, but noticed the windows were dirty because of the sunset lighting them at an angle. Then I saw the front of the oven was dirty. I started cleaning it too but it made the top look dusty. Between all these activitiesI finished the dishes that were IN the sink, but now the sink's full of stove parts. Then I discovered Sarah had bought extra windex; there were 3 bottles so I consolidated them to 2, causing me to notice I hadn't yet taken the recycle bin back in, so I went outside... that reminded me the lawn needed to be cut, but my brother had broken my mower months ago, so I started looking for the business card from the guy that has been mowing it and called him. While on the phone I paced like I always do, and in the process realized I still needed to mail that package.
It goes on and on.
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OH MY GOD KELLY. I FEEL SO SORRY FOR YOU. YOUR LIFE SOUNDS LIKE A LIVING HELL!!!

Just kidding, this is exactly how I spend the day.

AHHHHHHHH, MY LIFE IS A LIVING HELL!!!

eliza38431.7379050926LOL no... for me, cleaning is actually kind of fun. It gets a little exasperating when I get so involved in my ADD chain reaction of chores that I forget what I was doing in the first place, but eventually the smell of something burning, a timer going off, or the sink overflowing will bring me back to reality!

I live in the ground floor.... aint much home..just sleep there. So I clean
and around holidays have a high tolerance to not being able to see the
floor or any furniture. When I clean it usually takes the hole weekend
because I always end up reorganize something and making even a more
mess..... When I am really in a mood I clean out the room of all the
things that can be moved..... clean and then put them back. It's not
logical or easier

And it isin't neat long... it has a livetime of a week
or days. Love the Mantra idea. I'm supposed to be cleaning house for my 2 year olds birthday party, but.....my wife asked me to call someone for a last minute invite....I turned on the computer to get the phone number off a spread sheet and now here I am typing instead of cleaning......araaarrrrrggghhhh.

Sooo....let me try saying

I am dusting the furniture nTimes

then

I am vacuuming n Times

then

I am mopping....

Thanks
ghead

< =""> HAHA!

Dave: Yes.

I frustrate everyone. I can only clean when I have the day to myself. Now I have proof, the next time someone says 'Only you would try to clean this way!'

I can't clean my apartment in that way... I usually don't see all the stuff that needs to be done... I get used to some of the mess.

Procrastination is the word... i see the stuff that needs to be done, but I can't just do it... i need to think about it, and work on my stomach ulcer

And then when I force myself to do all the stuff that needs to be done, then I do it in 2 nanoseconds... tops hehe... I work VERY fast...

Its like I run out of juice, changing tasks takes all the mental energy out of me.

maybe I am crasy LOL... HMMM

Dave2u4now38429.6833101852

Oh, that's funny! You just explained the way I clean my house! I do one thing at a time. When I cook a recipie, I put one thing away at a time! It takes me 4 hours when it takes my friend about 1 1/2 to clean her house.

Are you on meds? I have always cleaned a lot but have done it in such a disorganized way that I feel like a "gerbil in a wheel" (I go, go, go but get nowhere). Since I've been on my meds, I have gotten a LOT done. I'm really excited about this and hope it doesn't wear off. It's just amazing to me that I can create a list in the a.m. and actually get through so much of it, and I'll look at my watch and it'll be 11:00 a.m. I used to have such a hard time keeping track of time and it'd be late in the day before I knew it. I think I ended up wandering around a lot before because I felt so overwhelmed, I didn't know where to begin. I did not realize in how many ways this ADD effected me. I haven't realized the extent of it, until now that I'm seeing improvements. I've actually been able to get places on time also. This is a first in many, many years.

Sounds to me like you accomplish an awful lot!

Want to come clean my apartment?

Dave...yes, I agree with bcgirl...sounds like you got plenty done! Really! And I like the way you put away the groceries, I do it the same way. Guess it might be the ADHDer way of doing it, and seems the best way I think. If I could only get 1/16th of what you got done...wow!